The Scottish Short Film Festival

The Scottish Short Film Festival was an independent film festival which has taken place annually in Scotland from 2012 to 2022. From 2012 to 2017, the festival was known as The Raptor Filmz Short Scottish Film Festival until the event was rebranded in 2018.

History and format
The festival was set up in 2012 by Scottish filmmaker Chris Young who is the company director of Raptor Filmz Ltd in West Lothian. The aim of the festival is to promote short Scottish films with a view of potentially setting up a distribution deal with filmmakers. The first festival took place in Glasgow at the Grosvenor Cinema and was hosted by Scottish actor David Anderson. With a desire to bring the festival closer to home, the festival was moved to the Howden Park Centre in Livingston where the date of the festival was also moved to January 2014 rather than December 2013. In 2015, the festival found a new home at the Bathgate Regal Community Theatre which is operated by Scottish actor Scott Kyle. Speaking of the Regal, festival curator Chris Young said:"'I think we’ve found our home with the Regal. It’s a great historic venue, with friendly staff, brilliant equipment, and a fantastic audience..'"

The festival consists of awards for films and individual prizes. The awards are selected by jury with an audience choice award being decided by visitors of the festival. Jury members in the past have included actor Declan Michael Laird and film editor Chris Quick. In 2018, it was announced that Ross Miller, the film critic for The National newspaper would join the judging panel.

The festival returned in 2018 but under the new name of The Scottish Short Film Festival. The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow was due to host the 2018 festival but due to the fire at the Glasgow School of Art, the venue was forced to close. It was announced on the festival's Twitter account that the Crowne Plaza Glasgow would take over as host.

On 4 November 2022, it was announced on the festivals website that the 2022 edition of the festival would be its last. The message on the website read:"'Thanks for being part of this year’s film festival. Sadly this was our final film festival as after 10 years, we’ve decided to finish on a high. We’ve been proud to showcase a huge amount of talent over the years, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this event over the past decade, and we wish you all the very best of luck in your film-making endeavours.'"

Festival award winners
List of winners and nominees of the festival.

2017 winners

 * The Golden Raptor Award - Portrait of the Artwork as a Young Man - Chris Gerrard
 * Judges 1st Prize - Writer's Block
 * Judges 2nd Prize - Enora
 * Audience Choice Award (Evening Session) - Dying To Forgive
 * Audience Choice Award (Afternoon Session) - Weekend Away

2018 winners

 * The Golden Raptor Award - Carved - Daniel Caradec
 * Judges 1st Prize - Lethe - Eric Romero
 * Judges 2nd Prize - To The Sea - Mark Westbrook & R. Paul Wilson
 * Audience Choice Award - Drone - Robert Duncan
 * Rising Star Award - To The Sea - Gregor Selkirk
 * Golden Bawhair - The She Wolves Of Wall Street - Tamsin Amantea-Collins

2019 winners

 * The Golden Raptor Award - Remember Me - Katie Low
 * Judges 1st Prize - Turning Tide - Andrew Muir
 * Judges 2nd Prize - Spaceship - Conor McMahon
 * Judges 3rd Prize - Mess - Graham Robertson
 * Main Event Audience Choice Award - Spaceship - Conor McMahon
 * Matinee Audience Award - Turning The Tables - Jay Rowan Tanner
 * Golden Raptor Award - Remember Me - Katie Low

2020 Winners

 * Audience Choice Award - Eyes Down

2021 Winners

 * Audience Choice Award - Last House on CCTV

2022 Winners

 * Audience Choice Award (Saturday Screening) - 1815 - Neil Boyle
 * Audience Choice Award (Sunday Screening) - Terminal Happiness - Eric Romero
 * Judges 1st Prize - 1815 - Neil Boyle
 * Judges 2nd Prize - Whale Heart - Phillip Edge
 * Golden Raptor Award - Professor Heny Bowfax's Fantastic Journey Through Time!